Reivers knock off Crowder

May 09, 2008 12:22 am

— By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — No. 20 Iowa Western knocked off No. 14 Crowder 4-2 and 7-3 Thursday in the NJCAA District K softball playoffs at Crowder.
The Reivers (51-11) avenged two losses to Crowder during the regular season by winning the best-of-three series, earning a spot in the 16-team national tournament.
The first game was probably the toughest pill to swallow for Crowder (51-10). The Roughriders jumped out to a quick lead as Cassie Martin led off the game with a single, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Rachelle Rhodes. Jessica Marble then singled and scored on Richelle VanGennip’s triple for a 2-0 lead, but Crowder failed to score another run in the final six innings.
The Reivers chipped away at the deficit. They scored a run on Samantha Tiefenthaler’s two-out double to right-center field in the second, then tied the game on Jenna Bell’s double in the third.
Dell delivered another double — this one with the bases loaded — to score the decisive two runs in the sixth off Crowder’s Alex Peters (32-5).
“It was definitely frustrating,” Crowder coach Brandi Arthur said. “Iowa Western was just a better team than we were today.”
The second game didn’t go any better for the Lady Riders as Iowa Western again came up with the timely hits.
“I think a lot of us were surprised that we didn’t hit the ball better than we did,” Arthur said. “Give them credit. They were able to stay focused and get hits when they counted.”
The Reivers plated two runs in the second and three in the third. Dell’s two-run single in the third gave her five hits and five runs batted in for the day. Tiefenthaler, who pitched two complete games, added four hits.
Crowder’s runs scored on Rhodes’ groundout in the first inning, Katie Rackliff’s double in the second and Jessica Marble’s single in the third. Marble led the Roughriders with four hits in the two games.
Martin singled and scored in the first and third innings.
“When we had runners in scoring position we weren’t able to get hits and they did,” Arthur said. “Certainly, we expected to score more runs.”

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.